Abstract:
A long-term field experiment was conducted for 7 years to evaluate the effect of
different amendments to mitigate the adverse effect of saline-sodic water in a calcareous
soil under cotton-wheat cropping system. The pooled results over 7 years revealed that
the application of saline-sodic water decreased the mean cotton-seed yield by 20.7% as
compared to good quality canal water. However, wheat-grain yield was not adversely
affected by quality of irrigation water. Among the different amendments, gypsum and
farmyard manure were more effective in mitigating the adverse effect of saline-sodic
irrigation water. Cotton-seed yield reduction was 9.8% with the addition of farmyard
manure and remained only 8.8% with the addition of gypsum as compared to good
quality water. However, when saline-sodic water was used alternately with good quality
canal water, the recorded cotton-seed yield reduction was only 6.1%. These results
suggest that in calcareous soils, farmyard manure is useful in ameliorating long-term
deleterious effects of saline sodic irrigation water and sustaining the productivity of
cotton-wheat system.
Keywords: Calcareous soil, Farmyard manure, Gypsum, Irrigation water, Semi-arid region, Zinc.
